is there a place in Bodh Gaya where you can do the 100,000 prostrations in front of a stupa. ive seen somewhere that that is done in india but i dont remember if it is in Bodh Gaya.

thanks

If the thought of demons Never rises in your mind, You need not fear the demon hosts around you. It is most important to tame your mind within....

In so far as the Ultimate, or the true nature of being is concerned, there are neither buddhas or demons. He who frees himself from fear and hope, evil and virtue, will realize the insubstantial and groundless nature of confusion. Samsara will then appear as the mahamudra itself….

"Absolute Truth is not an object of analytical discourse or great discriminating wisdom,It is realized through the blessing grace of the Guru and fortunate Karmic potential.Like this, mistaken ideas of discriminating wisdom are clarified."

May any merit generated by on-line discussionBe dedicated to the Ultimate Benefit of All Sentient Beings.

are there some monasteries in both places where you can stay for extended periods while you complete 100,000 prostrations and make some donation at the end of the stay?

If the thought of demons Never rises in your mind, You need not fear the demon hosts around you. It is most important to tame your mind within....

In so far as the Ultimate, or the true nature of being is concerned, there are neither buddhas or demons. He who frees himself from fear and hope, evil and virtue, will realize the insubstantial and groundless nature of confusion. Samsara will then appear as the mahamudra itself….

"Absolute Truth is not an object of analytical discourse or great discriminating wisdom,It is realized through the blessing grace of the Guru and fortunate Karmic potential.Like this, mistaken ideas of discriminating wisdom are clarified."

May any merit generated by on-line discussionBe dedicated to the Ultimate Benefit of All Sentient Beings.

are you sure, i really want to go to Bodh Gaya to do 100,000 prostrations.

If the thought of demons Never rises in your mind, You need not fear the demon hosts around you. It is most important to tame your mind within....

In so far as the Ultimate, or the true nature of being is concerned, there are neither buddhas or demons. He who frees himself from fear and hope, evil and virtue, will realize the insubstantial and groundless nature of confusion. Samsara will then appear as the mahamudra itself….

KonchokZoepa wrote:are you sure, i really want to go to Bodh Gaya to do 100,000 prostrations.

If you really want to go, then go during the winter otherwise it is extremely hot even just walking around outside.

Bodhgaya is in Bihar, which is the poorest and arguably most uncivilized part of India. There are feces strewn about the streets, heaps of rubbish piled up outside monastery gates (the locals' fault, not the monastics) and a sheer lack of hygiene even in restaurants catering to tourists.

Mahabodhi Temple is not kept as well as it should be. There are bird droppings all over the marble walkways which are not regularly washed. Quite often locals will come inside and try to get money off foreigners. Thieves are common too (my shoes were stolen once).

In general, Buddhist sites are ruined and not enhanced by locals in India. They will vandalize stupas and disrupt pilgrims. You will often get approached by boys claiming to 'want to practice English', but really they want to take you to a merchant and get a cut.

In Nepal it is different. Locals enhance Buddhist sites. Lumbini is well maintained and the locals are helpful, not trying to squeeze money out of you. The same goes for Boudhanath here in Kathmandu. The local merchants organize for the stupa area to be tidy and washed. The restaurants in Boudha are generally clean and hygienic, and they serve a variety of things rather than Indian "multi-cuisine". In Bodhgaya most places are swarming with flies and the food generally sucks.

In general, I find Nepalis to have a sense of dignity and basic ideas of cleanliness, whereas in India it is the opposite. You can't trust anyone especially in places where tourists are common.

It is telling that most of the beggars harassing people in Boudha here in Kathmandu are from India, not Nepal.

If the thought of demons Never rises in your mind, You need not fear the demon hosts around you. It is most important to tame your mind within....

In so far as the Ultimate, or the true nature of being is concerned, there are neither buddhas or demons. He who frees himself from fear and hope, evil and virtue, will realize the insubstantial and groundless nature of confusion. Samsara will then appear as the mahamudra itself….

That reminds me of a story of someone travelling by road from Nepal to India.

At first he didn't immediately notice any great change until a truck came along with two young boys hanging off the front - one was collecting the leaking water from the radiator in a can and then passing it up to the other boy who then refilled it - and that symbolised exactly his experience of India throughout.

we cannot get rid of God because we still believe in grammar - Nietzsche

If you've got your heart set on Bodh Gaya, I'd go with that and that would probably be my choice too. Ven. Indrajala has lived for extended periods throughout Asia, so may be thinking of the long-term issues. If you are there for a not too long stay you can ignore those inconveniences or rather use it for placing equanimity to in your practice. I think you can still use the prostration boards in the Maha Bodhi Temple complex, just not directly inside the temple.

I noticed the things Ven. Indrajala is referring too, but it didn't bother me since I spent most of my time in Bodh Gaya at the temple complex.

It's very inspiring reading of the hundreds of thousands of pilgrims who made it to Bodh Gaya and the many who died trying to reach there over the last 2,500 years:http://www.buddhanet.net/bodh_gaya/

how long approximately does it take in time to do 100,000 prostrations? like how many weeks or months? i need to know this approximately to know how to plan the journey.

If the thought of demons Never rises in your mind, You need not fear the demon hosts around you. It is most important to tame your mind within....

In so far as the Ultimate, or the true nature of being is concerned, there are neither buddhas or demons. He who frees himself from fear and hope, evil and virtue, will realize the insubstantial and groundless nature of confusion. Samsara will then appear as the mahamudra itself….

About 333 full prostrations per day; approximately two hours or a little more per day, if I recall correctly. You could feel the leg muscles tightening up and getting stronger; the nearest thing I could compare it to is perhaps after a 10 km run or other equivalent long cycling event.

Full body prostrations are hard work, if you're going to do all those, think about how hard it will be if you have diarrhea and/or vomiting. Hygiene is important. Factor it in....gasshorory

Namu Kanzeon Bosatsu Chih-I:The Tai-ching states "the women in the realms of Mara, Sakra and Brahma all neither abandoned ( their old) bodies nor received (new) bodies. They all received buddhahood with their current bodies (genshin)" Thus these verses state that the dharma nature is like a great ocean. No right or wrong is preached (within it) Ordinary people and sages are equal, without superiority or inferiority Paul, Groner "The Lotus Sutra in Japanese Culture"eds. Tanabe p. 58

how long approximately does it take in time to do 100,000 prostrations? like how many weeks or months? i need to know this approximately to know how to plan the journey.

If you average 200/hr. it takes over 555 hours. So if you put in 55 hours a week (about 8 hours a day) it will take you about 2.5 months with no days off. That is like doing a prostration retreat. However not many people are capable of that kind of exercise for 8 hours a day. (Think of the kind of schedule people have for training for a marathon.) That doesn't include breaks, so basically if you do all day every day for 10 weeks you might get through it. That is if you don't have either a physical or mental breakdown first!

Wanting to do prostrations at the Mahabodhi Temple is a worthwhile aspiration. But if you intend on doing a prostration retreat it is good to have a supportive environment. I haven't been to Bodhgaya in decades, but they do have Tibetan temples there. If you have a teacher that will vouch for you it may be possible to do it at a monastery.

But best to cut your teeth in the practice before you leave home, where you have a support network. Try it for an hour a day and see how good a shape you are in. Like any exercise you shouldn't overdo it when you are starting out. You can build up to it.

And don't start without getting a teacher's instructions and permission!

My posts are for entertainment purposes only. Please don't take anything I say seriously unless you verify it with a real teacher first.

What Ven. Indrajala says is true though once you are through the temple gates and in the vicinity of the stupa, there is a palpable change from frenetic to peaceful, and I have never been harassed by beggars within the compound.